"At this point, we confirm that ... the Iranian oil tanker began to move towards international waters," Baeidinejad wrote on his personal Twitter account.

Data from ship-tracking service MarineTraffic showed that the Iran-flagged Adrian Darya 1, new name for the captured Grace 1 oil tanker, set sail shortly before midnight on Sunday towards international waters, according to media reports.

Gibraltar on Thursday released the tanker and later turned down the U.S. request to retain it.

The oil taker was detained in July off the coast of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar by Royal Marines on suspicion of attempting to carry oil to Syria "in breach of EU sanctions" -- charges denied by the Iranian government. Enditem